This is the fifth time the civic body is churning out such an assurance in this monsoon season.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has yet again set a deadline for itself promising Mumbaiites that it will fill potholes and provide them hassle-free rides before Diwali. This is the fifth time the civic body is churning out such an assurance in this monsoon season.

The 15-day pothole deadline given by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for all the government agencies, including Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and BMC, ends tomorrow. But before it could, BMC self-imposed another one.

Two days after the arrest of two of its corporators for humiliating chief engineer (roads), the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leaders met the additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh, demanding potholes to be filled soon. “If potholes are not filled before Diwali, we will again agitate in similar fashion and officials will have to pay its price,” said Nitin Sardesai, former MNS MLA. The party recently also claimed that its ‘style’ led BMC to repair potholes.

The party had, on Wednesday, humiliated chief engineer roads, Sanjay Darade and blamed him for the conditions of the roads in the city. The corporators had taken chief engineer Sanjay Darade for a site visit but once they were there, he was made to hold a board which read, “I, chief engineer (roads), am responsible for these potholes. Citizens, please take note.”

Darade had then filed a police complaint against MNS corporators Sandeep Deshpande and Santosh Dhuri for humiliating him in public. Following this, 4200 engineering staffers of the BMC had gone on strike demanding that the corporators be debarred. Both the corporators, who were arrested on Saturday, were out on bail on Monday afternoon.